(302e) Poly(imide urea urethane) Aerogels with Potential Shape Memory Functionalities

Poly(imide urea urethane) Aerogels
with Potential Shape Memory Functionalities

Andrew Shinko¹, Sadhan
C. Jana¹, and Mary Ann Meador²

¹Department
of Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-0301

²NASA
Glenn Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road,
Cleveland, OH  44135

Abstract

The present study investigates
polyimide aerogels modified with shape memory oligomers.
These materials potentially combine properties of aerogels,
such as low thermal conductivity, high surface area, and low density with shape
memory functions such as recovery from deformed state upon application of
stimuli. Current research focuses on a design of experiments involving the amount
of poly(urea urethane) content and the length of the
polyimide chain segments. Shape memory oligomers
consisting of poly(tetramethylene
ether) glycol (PTMG), 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), and
3,4'-oxydianiline (ODA) are reacted with polyimide oligomers consisting of ODA and
4,4'-biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride
(BPDA). These segments are crosslinked with 1,3,5 triaminophenoxylbenzene (TAB)
and the gels obtained from polyamic
acid solutions after chemical imidization are dried under
supercritical conditions.  Aerogels with
density ranging from 0.11-0.15 g/cm³ are obtained.  The introduction of shape memory oligomers
leads to softening of the aerogel network.